Roark (anime)
Roark is a character appearing in Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, who is the Gym Leader of Oreburgh City in the Sinnoh region and the son of Byron the current Gym Leader of Canalave City. Appearance Personality Biography Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl Roark first appeared when both Paul and Ash show up at his Gym for a battle. Since Paul was the first to show up he was able to battle Roark first. Roark, using a team of Geodude, Onix and Cranidos battled Paul's team of Azumarill, Chimchar and Elekid. Roark's strong abilities were shown as he was able to defeat two of Paul's Pokémon, though his Cranidos was unable to withstand Elekid's power leaving Paul the victor.DP015: Shapes of Things to Come! Ash battled Roark the day after Paul's battle. Using a team of Pikachu, Turtwig and Aipom, Ash battled his way through Roark's team. In the end though, Ash was defeated by Roark and would need to challenge him again.DP016: A Gruff Act to Follow! Roark later teams up with Ash and the group against Team Rocket who manage to steal the machine to resurrect the fossil back to life as well as releasing a rampaging Aerodactyl to cause rampage in the city. His Cranidos got caught in the net made by Team Rocket until it destroys it when it evolved into Rampardos. After Team Rocket is blasted off, Roark thanked Ash for helping him saving his hometown from its rampage and he gave Ash a rematch for his Coal Badge.DP017: Wild in the Streets! Ash would have a rematch with Roark using the same Pokémon. Roark's newly evolved Rampardos proved to be difficult but was defeated by Turtwig. With Roark's defeat, Ash had earned his Coal Badge.DP018: O'er the Rampardos We Watched! While on their way to Hearthome City, Ash recalled the events with Roark.DP048: Ash and Dawn! Facing a New Adventure! Roark returned where he fell out with his father, Byron, the Gym Leader of Canalave City. Roark told Ash and his friends that he came to see his father because of his wedding anniversary with Roark's mother and told them that was the Gym Leader of Oreburgh City, who eventually left his family to take up the place of Gym Leader in Canalave City. Both father and son had an exhibition battle between Roark's Rampardos and Byron's Bastiodon as they fought similar to a spear and a shield. Their battle was interrupted when Team Rocket stole all of his father's fossil collections. Roark told his father that Team Rocket was stealing his fossil collection as he was angrily mad for their actions. Both of their Pokemon tried to deal the drill robot that Team Rocket had made. When Rampardos was weaken, it was defended by Byron's Bastiodon as Byron cared for his son and his reason he wanted to train his son about defense capabilities. Altogether, both Rampardos and Bastiodon smashed the robot down to create a dent of hole so that Ash's Pikachu could blast Team Rocket off with its Thunderbolt as the fossils they stole are dropped. Byron revealed he cared for his family after he keeps the sunken leaf fossil that Roark shows it to him in its youth as both father and son soon reconcile and Byron passed the torch to Roark as the Gym Leader of Oreburgh City because he is his father's apprentice.DP107: Ancient Family Matters! Roark served as a referee in his dad's Gym battle against Ash. Roark gave Ash some advice during the battle and became amused to Ash's win against his father to win the Mine Badge.DP108: Dealing With Defensive Types! While the gang walked to Snowpoint City, a flashback of what happened so far on their journey was shown.DP120: Mysterious Creatures: Pokémon! Pokémon On hand Voice actors *'Czech': Pavel Tesar *'French': David Macaluso *'Portuguese (Brazil)': Sergio Corsetti, Yuri Chesman *'Spanish': Cholo Moratalla *'Iberian Spanish': Ricardo Mendoza, Ignacio Casas Trivia *Roark is one of few Gym Leaders who had their Pokémon evolve in the anime. Others include Brock, Sabrina, Koga, Clair, Brawly, Wattson, Flannery, and Cilan. *Roark is also identical to Brock when fighting against their challengers in Gym battles and also owns two Rock-type Pokémon such as Geodude and Onix. Although, he also owns Cranidos as his third Pokémon who is later evolved into Rampardos. **Brock also mentions his own Onix who is now evolved into a Steelix that he also raised it just like how Roark did to his own Onix. **Both men are also the ones to defeat Ash in its first official Gym battle before they lost in the rematch. In Brock's case, his Onix got soaked from the water sprinklers due to its weakness in water and it allows Pikachu to defeat it with Thunderbolt despite the type disadvantage. **Both also have a perfect strategy against their opponents. But Roark's strategy is much like Norman when he is confident in battle. ** Their rules in the Gym are completely different as Roark battles in a 3 on 3 while Brock's are 2 on 2. **Roark and Brock are also being passed the torch from their fathers Byron and Flint who are the former Gym Leaders in their respective cities as Byron became the Gym Leader of Canalave City despite being a native from Oreburgh City while Flint passes to Brock as Gym Leader of Pewter City and later passes his torch to his younger brother Forrest after he was technically defeated by Ash and immediately gives up the title to join him in his travels. *Roark's Gym appears similar to the ones in Pewter Gym but the rock designs are brown instead of gray. Gallery AshVsRoark.jpg|Ash in his Gym Battle with Roark. RampardosVs.Turtwig.jpg|Rampardos VS Turtwig Sinnoh Gym Leaders.png See also *Roark (Adventures) *Roark (DPA) References Category:Gym Leaders Category:Rock Pokémon User